The speakers at a conference on “Ports and Multimodal Transportation – Aiming towards First and Last Mile Connectivity”, said that improving road and rail infrastructure, and thereby reducing logistics cost, is essential to tap the tremendous potential of Visakhapatnam city, which in turn can boost the economy of Andhra Pradesh.
The Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) and the Adani Gangavaram Port, both located in the city, were together handling around 100 MT s of cargo, and their total capacity was expected to double in future, they said at the conference, organised by CII Andhra Pradesh, here on Tuesday.
S.V.K. Reddy, CEO of AP Inland Waterways Authority, Government of AP, said that the high cost of logistics was adding up to the total production cost by about 30%. A major share of this was going towards high transportation and handling cost. Water transport could bring down the cost by about 50% and it was also eco-friendly. He underlined the need for integration of coastal transport with inland waterways.
B.G. Gandhi, CEO of Adani Gangavaram Port Limited, underlined the need to develop the road infrastructure in the city and to the hinterland. Visakhapatnam has the added advantage of having two ports and major industries like Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP).
M. Muralidhar, COO, Kakinada Seaports Ltd., said that the PM GatiShakti Master Plan, introduced by the Centre, has raised the hopes of the industry. He felt that it was for the State government to take advantage of the scheme to improve infrastructure to meet the future challenges. National Highways should be at least eight to 10 lanes, and the State was lagging behind in this regard. He also called for improvement of the rail network.
KV Mahidhar, Executive Director and Head, CII – Institute of Logistics, in his talk on “Building East Coast Logistics Capital – Visakhapatnam” said that Andhra Pradesh has three industrial corridors, and if any of them came into play, the growth would be exponential. The infrastructure development should be planned to meet that growth. Visakhapatnam was among the top 10 cities in India in GDP, and urban population was growing.
G. Sambasiva Rao, convener, Infrastructure & Logistics Panel, CII AP, said that lack of improvement of road infrastructure during the last 25 years, and the tremendous increase in road traffic were resulting in high incidence of road accidents. He said that exclusive lanes were required for heavy vehicles, carrying goods from the hinterland to the ports and vice versa.
P.P. Lal Krishna, chairman Rajesh Grandhi, vice chairman, and VM Mouli, Head, CII, Visakhapatnam, also spoke.
